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> I don't experience writing code as similar to writing prose. Code has a lot of technical constraints, and prose is much more about emotion. Emotional constr

> I don't experience writing code as similar to writing prose. Code has a lot of technical constraints, and prose is much more about emotion. Emotional constraints. You need to play those emotions in the right way to obtain desired outcome in the reader. > There are very creative prose stories that play with the rules of language. Just like demoscene, iocc or quines. Some stories/programs play with the rules of language/language to obtain desired awe inspiring result in reader/machine, some are more direct to obtain desired novel idea/calculation in reader/machine. > But the primary focus of prose is it's effect on people and that has a different requirements than a program which has to run, run correctly, be understandable, and be maintained. Not all programs need to be maintained, some are pretty good as is for their intended purpose. The rest is also a requirement for prose. It has to be read and understood for it to be usable. Quote of the day: "Debugging is like being the detective in a crime movie where you are also the murderer." - Filipe Fortes.

webnrrd2k 3y ago
I think that you're saying that writing code is the same as writing prose. My experience is that, if I write both in the same way, I will fail at both. People just don't read prose to bask in it's technical correctness. Programming, at least the kind people get paid for, has strict technical requirements. They may get met in a creative manner, but they must be met. The primary output needs to be workable, runnable code. Programmers get paid to solve problems. But so do, e.g., surgeons. It doesn't mean that surgery is the same as programming, even if some people are called "code surgeons".
- yetihehe 3y ago
  It's not the same, but there are some similarities. They have different purposes, so it's enough to say that they are not the same. I was just playing devil advocate and wanted to show that the set of arguments presented by original commenter was not that good.

webnrrd2k 3y ago

I think that you're saying that writing code is the same as writing prose. My experience is that, if I write both in the same way, I will fail at both. People just don't read prose to bask in it's technical correctness. Programming, at least the kind people get paid for, has strict technical requirements. They may get met in a creative manner, but they must be met. The primary output needs to be workable, runnable code. Programmers get paid to solve problems. But so do, e.g., surgeons. It doesn't mean that surgery is the same as programming, even if some people are called "code surgeons".

yetihehe 3y ago
It's not the same, but there are some similarities. They have different purposes, so it's enough to say that they are not the same. I was just playing devil advocate and wanted to show that the set of arguments presented by original commenter was not that good.